Bauer, Gustav

Bauer was born in Ozersk (aka pre-war Darkeman until 1938 and Angerapp until 1946), in the family of a bailiff whose ancestors moved to East Prussia from Southern Germany in 1731-1732. At the end of the public school in Königsberg in 1884, Gustav Bauer worked as a clerk in a law office. As a result of a serious illness in 1888, he lost his leg. In 1893-1895 he headed the office of the eminent criminal defense attorney Fritz Friedman .

Union and public life

In 1895, Bauer founded the Central Union of Office Workers of Germany and headed it until the merger with the Union of Public Servants of the Health Insurance Fund in 1808. In 1902, he lost his job because of his participation in trade union activities and spent a year working on his own tavern, then on a professional basis he headed the Central Workers' Secretariat. In 1908-1918, Bauer served as second chairman of the German Trade Union General Commission. In 1912, Bauer was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the new Volksfürsorge Insurance Company.

In 1917, Bauer participated in the creation of the People's Union for Freedom and Homeland, which became the counterweight to the extremist German national party . After leaving politics, Gustav Bauer worked as a manager in the Berlin Housing Partnership.

Political Activities

Bauer was a member of the SPD and belonged to the right wing, which supported the policy of civil peace with the imperial government during the First World War .

In 1912, Bauer was elected deputy of the Reichstag from the SPD and headed the budget committee since 1915. After the November Revolution, he was elected a delegate to the Weimar National Assembly and then was a deputy of the Reichstag from June 1920 to February 1925.

In October 1918, Reich Chancellor Maximilian of Baden appointed Gustav Bauer as State Secretary of the Imperial Labor Office. From February 13, 1919, in the office of Scheidemann, Bauer served as Reich Minister of Labor.

After Scheidemann resigned on June 20, 1919, Bauer was appointed Chancellor of the government that signed the Treaty of Versailles , despite the fact that he himself opposed the terms of the treaty. On June 22, Bauer spoke in favor of accepting the treaty, but planned to appeal to the Entente some of his separate provisions on guilt in unleashing a war and evicting German citizens, but the very next day at a meeting of the Weimar National Assembly he was forced to admit that his attempts were unsuccessful.

As Chancellor, Gustav Bauer dealt with issues of railway jurisdiction and, together with Reich Minister of Finance Matthias Erzberger, promoted financial reform. In 1920, after the Kappovsky putsch, Bauer was forced to resign because, like Reich Minister of Defense Gustav Noske , he lost the confidence of his party and trade unions. In the next government of his party comrade Herman Müller, Gustav Bauer served as Minister of the Treasury, and from May 1, 1920 to June 25, 1920 he also served as Minister of Transport. In the second office, Wirth Bauer served as Vice Chancellor and Reich Minister of the Treasury.

In 1925, Gustav Bauer was expelled from the party in connection with the Barmata case . May 14, 1926 was restored to the party by the decision of the party court. In the Weimar Republic was a member of the Reichsbanner .

After the National Socialists came to power in May 1933, Gustav Baeur was detained for several weeks on charges of tax crimes.

Gustav Bauer was married to Gedwig Moss. He was buried in a church cemetery in Glienick .